Who Are Our Emergent Bilinguals?

First and foremost, what do we mean when we use terms like emergent bilinguals, multilingual learners, linguistically minoritized youth, and racialized bilinguals? 

The first two - emergent bilinguals and multilingual learners - are used by educators and researchers as a substitute for the official bureaucratic terms "English Learner" or "Non-English Proficient." Why the alternative labels? Because the official terms define students by what they lack - proficiency in the forms and features of English necessary to succeed on school metrics of accountability. Such labels, although they were designed to ensure that students received the academic and linguistic supports to which they are entitled under civil rights law, unfortunately also often have the effect of lowering teacher expectations, tracking students into remedial or less engaging course streams, and isolating them socially. By using terms that emphasize students' bi/multilingualism (even if it is in nascent and developing stages), we are reminded that students already come to school with rich communicative repertoires that can be leveraged to help them develop English proficiency and that should be affirmed in their own right.

The second two terms - linguistically minoritized youth and racialized bilinguals - refers to a broader population. These are all students who use languages and dialects other than standardized English among their communicative resources. This includes students classified as "Academic Language Learners" such as users of African American English or students classified as Long Term English Learners who use English in their day-to-day life but have not been classified as proficient. It can also include students who are English proficient but who, because of their racial phenotype, are perceived as linguistically deficient regardless of objective performance. 

With all this said, let's take a look at who are the emergent bilinguals in Bay Area public schools.

We can use the California Department of Education's DataQuest dashboard to look up enrollment figures, home language background, and academic achievement information for our emergent bilinguals. Below is a quick snapshot across Bay Area counties that I have compiled from available 2022-23 data, but I encourage you to dig deeper into your county, district, school, and classrooms. The "Engage" section of this module will provide you with some classroom activities to learn more about your emergent bilinguals and their communicative repertoires. 

Proceed to ENGAGE the content from this module